Steam-engine cylinder.



H. F. BALL @L H. R. STAFFORD.

STEAM ENGINE CYLINDER.

APPLICATION man M^Y22,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. is a front view, in elevation,

'forni the ports TJ @if ii HERMAN r. BALL, or NEW Yoan, N. Y., AND nel. n. sfrnrronn, or rLAiNrinLn, NEW

Jnnsiiv.

STEAM-ENGINE CYLINDER.

Appiicmn inea May 22, i915.

T0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that We, HERMAN F. BALL, of the borough of Manhattan, in the city county, and State of New York, and AL lt. Sanrronu, of Flain'iield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have jointly invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in team-Engine C, linders, of which improvement the following is a specification. Our invention relates to steam engine cylinders, the supply and exhaust of steam to and from which .is controlled by distribution valves of the piston type, and, more particularly, to cylinders of locomotive engines, and its object is to so construct the ports or passages tlirougliivhich the ingress and egress of steam is elfected, as to facilitate the traverse of steam through the same, and avoid retardation, acceleration, or eddying of the currents' of steam, and to admit of the application of piston valves of smaller diameters than heretofore. e. further object of the invention is to so that in molding, fins or obstructions ordinarily presented at the junction cores will be eliminated from the ports proper, and so located that they will be cut away by the ordinary operation of boring the chamber for the valve bushing.

The improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth.

ln the accompanying drawings: Figure l of a pair of locomotive cylinder saddles, the right hand cylinder, which illustrates an embodiment of our invention, being in vertical trans-- verse section on the line a a of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a view of said cylinder, the left hand half of which is in side elevation, and the right hand half in longitudinal section on the line b of Fig. l, Fig. 3', ahorizontal section on the line cc of Fig. l; Fig. 1i, a transverse section, on the line zr m of Fig. 5, illustrating a structural modification; and, Fig. 5, a vievv of a. cylinder so structurally modified, the left hand half of which is in side elevation, and the right hand half in longitudinal section on the line c/ 1/ of Fig. 4

As is familiar to constructors and operators of locomotive engines having piston distribution valves, said valves are ordi-v narily fitted, in

bushings which are fixed in valve chests cast integral with the cylinders, said bushings having ports communicating vvtiwiiriel induction and eduction ports of Specicaton of Letters Patent.-

' passes rinto Patented Aug. 24, 1915.

serial No. 29,744.

the cylinders, the ports of the bushing each comprising, and being divided into, ity of circumferential openings, by bridges connecting the portions of the bushings on opposite sides of the ports. The steam and out of the induction and eduction ports of the cylinders, through said circumferential openings, but not being guided or divided into currents leading into and out of them, it isnot equally distributed among them, and with the large diameters of piston valves novv applied on locomotives, a considerable portion of the peripheries of the bushings arey not fully effective for the ingress and .egress of. steam. ed to overcome this Our invention is desior objection, by providi g for a substantial equalization of the avenues for the admission and delivery of steam tov and from the several circumferential openings of the bushing ports, as Well as to facilitate the fitting of the bushings in the cylinders.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, our invention is exemplified as applied in a locomotive cylinder, 1, Which is cast integralI with a half saddle, l, and With a valve chest, 2, to the central portion of which steam is supplied from the boiler by an outside steaml pipe, 3, and from the ends of which, steam is discharged through exhaust passages, 1b, in the saddle,leading to an ordinary exhaust pipe. Bushings, 4, which are bored out to receive the heads of a piston distribution valve, 5, are fitted in the valve chest, adjacent to its ends, which are able heads, 2a. the valve chest to each end of the cylinder, and from that-en d of the c, linder to the adjacent exhaust passage, 1b, is effected through a circumferential port, 4a, o ne of Which is formed in each of the bushings. Each of the bushing ports, Ala, is in continuously open communication with an induction and eduction port, 1, leading into the adjacent end of the cylinder, and the bushing ports are divided into circumferential spaces or open-e ings, by bridges, 4b, which connect the portions of the bushings' located on the opposite -sides of the ports.

a pluralclosed by remov-` The traverse of steam from the relation of the bushing port spaces or openings to the Walls ofthe inclosing valve chest, tle steam lsupply pipe, and thecyliny/ ,if

Arent of steam,

, gines, the advantages of 'on valve packing rings, pressure under the rings, have been recog-l der ports, and the absence of any means for equalizing the flow of ushing ports, each of said bridges is extended outwardly from its by an equaliz'ing bridge, 4l, which formed integral with the cylinder and valve chest casting Which incloses said cylinder port. The ang'ular relation of the several equalizing bridges, al, to the bushing port bridges which they respectively adjoin, is such as to cause the volume oi steam passin through the cylinder ports to be divided, before passing through the bushing ports, may be, 'equal volumes, these currents being given proper direction, at equal velocities, and prevented from interference, one with another, by the dividing action of the equalizing bridges, so that, when joining in the cylinder port, c, they 'have a uniform flow in a common direction..

The structural modification shown Figs. 4L and 5 conforms, in all essential particulars, with the construction first olescribed, dil'iering therefrom only in that the equalizing bridges, 4, are formed integra-l With the bushings, 4, instead of, as in the former instance, integral with the inclosing casting. ur invention enables piston distribution valves of smaller diameters to be substituted for larger ones in existing enwhich, such as restrain on valve due to unbalanced duction or" nized in practice.

`W e claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. rihe combination, With a steam engine in Y gear, and of Wear cylinder having induction and eduction ports adjoining its ends, oi valve chest having ports continuously open to the cylin der ports, piston valve bushings each having a port comprising a plurality of circumferchestport, and means for erse of steam in substantially rents into and out of all of the several openings of the bushing ports.

2. The combination, with cylinder having induction and eduction ports adjoining its ends, of a valve chest having ports continuously open to the cylin` der ports, piston valve bushings each having a longitudinally bridge circumferential port communicating with one or" the valve chest ports, and a plurality of equalizing bridges, each extending laterally from one of the bushing port bridges into the surrounding steain space.

3. The combination, with cylinder having induction and eduction ports adjoining its ends, oi a valve chest having ports continuously open to the cyliner ports, piston valve bushings each having a longitudinally bridged circumferential port communicating With one of the valve chest ports, and a plurality of equalizing ridges, extending laterally from each or' t e bushing port bridges into the surrounding steam space and varying in relative equal cura steam engine a steam engine Langular disposition to said bushing port bridges.

4. The combination, with a stearn engine cylinder having induction and 4eduction ports adjoining its ends, of a valve chest having ports continuously open to the cylinder ports, piston valve bushings each having a longitudinally bridged circumferential port communicating with one of the valve chest ports,y and a plurality of equalizing bridges, each formed integral with one or" t e piston valve bushings and extending from a port bridge thereof into the surrounding steam space, 

